INTRODUCTORY  LECTURE 


READ    BEFORE 


THE  CORPS  OF  CADETS, 


•       ON    THE  RESUMPTION    OF    THE    ACADEMIC    M  'i  IKS    0*    TIE 


Virginia  Military  Institute, 


AT 


THE  ALMS  HOUSE,  RICHMOND,  VA., 

December    28,   1864, 


BY 


• 


FRANCIS     H.     SMITH,     A.     M, 

» 

Superintendent  of  the  Va.   Military  Institute. 


Published  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Visitors. 


RICHMOND: 

MACFARLANE    &    FERGUSSON,   PRINTERS. 

1865. 


■ 


LECTURE. 


Many  days  of  memorable  interest  are  traced  in  undying  characters 
through  the  brief  annals  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute. 

That  cold  and  blustering  eve,  on  the  11th  November,  1839,  when  a 
squad  of  young  Virginians  unfurled  the  banner  of  their  State  from 
the  Arsenal  building  at  Lexington,  as  the  standard  of  the  "  V.  M.  1. 
Cadet,"  will  never  be  forgotten  by  any  who  participated  in  that  inter- 
esting ceremony. 

The  1th  of  July,  1S42,  was  the  birth  day  of  the  First  Graduating 
Class — the  pioneers  in  the  great  work  to  which  the  Institution  had 
been  dedicated  by  its  founders. 

When,  on  the  1th  of  July,  1850,  General  Philip  St.  George  Cocke, 
as  President  of  the  Board  of  Visitors,  laid,  with  impressive  ceremonials, 
the  corner  stone  of  that  magnificent  building,  erected  by  the  liberality 
of  the  State  of  Virginia,  all  felt  that  that  day  permanently  fixed  the 
State  policy  in  support  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute.  Ten  hard 
probationary  years  had  rolled  away — the  test  of  experiment  in  its  se- 
verest ordeal,  had  been  applied — and  with  the  plaudit  "  well  done  I" 
the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  adopted  as  her  own  the  bantling  of 
1839. 

Who  can  ever  forget  that  turbulent  crowd — eager  for  the  fray — 
which  sought,  under  the  plea  of  a  fancied  insult,  to  give  vent  to  the 
revolutionary  fires  that  burned  within  ?  The  State  of  Virginia  had 
actually  seceded,  but  her  independence  was  not  publicly  known — and 
that  Saturday  afternoon,  in  April  1861,  was  nigh  witnessing  a  sanguin- 
ary drama — the  prelude  to  the  struggle  which  soon  followed. 

Ah  !  what  memories  cluster  around  the  15th  of  May,  1801 !     The 


2  LECTURE. 

battle-field  had  been  familiar  to  most  of  those  trained  in  this  nursery 
of  patriot  soldiers.  But  that  day  was  signalized  by  the  conspicuous 
gallantry  of  the  corps  of  cadets  as  a  battalion — and  the  dead — and  the 
wounded — and  the  living — bear  testimony  to  the  glory  which  encircles 
the  brow  of  all  who  participated  in  that  brilliant  victory  of  Xav  Market. 

Just  one  month  later,  and  the  clouds  of  heaven  reflected  the  confla- 
gration which  made  the  cherished  home  of  the  cadet  a  mass  of  ruins  ! 

Memorable  days  !  all  of  these  J  And  now,  once  more,  to-day,  in  this 
building  appropriated  as  an  asylum  for  the  destitute  and  the  homeless, 
we  aie  to  add  another  to  the  many  eventful  days  in  our  memorable  his- 
tory. 

Truly,  every  cadet  is  to  realize  now  the  character  and  the  destiny  of 
the  soldier-scholar.  He  finds  himself  in  a  beleagured  city.  The  roar 
of  the  cannon  avrakes  him  in  the  morning — and  lulls  him  to  sleep  at 
night.  He  has  to  study  with  his  armor  on,  and  his  musket  by  his  side, 
ready  for  the  lecture-room  or  the  battle-field,  as  duty  may  call.  Cadets  ! 
soldier-scholars !  you  are  to  make  this  day  memorable,  as  illustrating 
by  your  valor  on  the  one  hand — and  by  your  assiduity  on  the  other — 
the  spirit  of  the  Institution  which  aims  to  train  you,  amid  these  sur- 
roundings, for  the  crisis  of  your  country's  history. 

It  is  surely  not  necessary  for  me,  at  this  time,  to  refer  to  the  many 
and  serious  difficulties  which  embarrass  an  Institution  like  this,  in  its 
effort  to  continue  its  operations  undeT  the  circumstances  which  sur- 
round it.  There  is  scarcely  a  comfort  that  may  be  required  for  you,  as 
a  soldier  or  a  scholar,  that  has  not  to  be  procured  and  preserved,  at 
great  labor  and  with  much  uncertainty.  Even  the  house  which  now 
shelters  you,  was  the  only  available  one  at  command,  and  this  has  been 
secured,  with  all  its  inconveniences  and  want  of  adaptedness,  under  dis- 
couragements and  serious  hindrances.  There  must  then  have  been  good 
and  substantial  reasons  with  the  governing  authorities  of  the  Institu- 
tion to  order  its  continuance  at  such  a  time  and  under  such  circum- 
stances. It  is  proper  that  these  reasons  should  be  distinctly  set  before 
you  to-day. 

And  the  first  and  paramount  motive  was — a  sense  of  the  essential 
importance  of  this  military  school  to  the  military  defences  of  our  suffer- 
ing and  bleeding  country. 

When  the  Confederate  army  was  first  organized,  on  the  opening  of 
the  war,  most  persons  felt  the  importance  of  military  education.     The 


i^ECTURB.  8 

graduates  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy  at  West  Point — of  the  Vir- 
ginia Military  Institute,  and  of  the  various  military  schools  of  the 
South — were  promptly  and  eagerly  sought  for,  to  take  commanding 
positions  in  this  Army. 

Some  eight  hundred  of  those  who  had  been  educated  at  this  Institu- 
tion, were  placed  in  commission — and  many  of  them  occupied  stations 
of  high  rank  and  responsibility.  It  is  estimated  that  one-tenth  of  the 
Confederate  army,  in  1862,  was  under  the  command  of  officers  who 
had  been  trained  to  arms  here.  Even  the  cadets  were  brought  into 
requisition  at  once  as  drill-masters — and  here,  at  Camp  Lee,  in  a  con- 
tinued and  laborious  service  of  nearly  three  months — drilled  15,000  of 
the  gallant  army  that  achieved  the  first  battle  of  Manassas. 

And  the  country  reaped  the  benefits  of  this  Providential  supply  of 
well  qualified  officers.  The  signal  success  which  crowned  our  arms, 
especially  in  Virginia,  were  earned  by  the  valor  of  our  troops,  under 
the  training  and  discipline  of  such  commanders. 

But  other  views,  in  the  progress  of  the  war,  gained  ground.  It  has 
been  thought  that  the  battle-field  is  the  place  to  tutor  officers — and 
that  now  that  our  whole  country  has  been  made  one  military  camp,  the 
lessons  which  shall  qualify  the  soldier  for  command,  are  only  properly 
to  be  acquired  there.  Legislation  has  followed  the  popular  idea, — ap- 
pointments to  command  are  made  by  popular  election — popularity  or 
supposed  fitness  secures  advancement,  in  many  cases,  to  the  rejection  of 
the  educated  military  talent  of  the  country. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  military  genius  i3  not  to  be  tied  down  to 
any  routine — and  that  the  camp  and  the  battle-field  are  emphatically 
the  positions  to  test  and  develope  the  military  qualities  of  an  officer. 
Many  of  our  most  distinguished  leaders  have  received  only  this  practi- 
cal training.  But,  after  making  the  fullest  allowances  for  these  excep- 
tional cases,  and  giving  the  fullest  credit  to  the  importance  of  that  ex- 
perience which  public  service  alone  can  give,  I  am  prepared  to  say, 
that  our  country  is  now  reaping  the  consequences  of  grave  error  on  this 
point,  and  that  the  disasters  which  have  attended  our  arms,  have  been 
mainly  due  to  the  lack  of  that  discipline  and  drill  which  it  is  the  spe- 
cial province  of  military  schools  to  impart.  Men  may  be  never  so 
brave ;  they  may  be  led  by  officers  who  know  no  fear,  but  unless  they 
are  moved  in  the  order,  and   with   the  command  which  educated  disoi- 


4  LECTURE. 

pline  gives,  the  army  suffers  under  defeat,  and  hard  oarned  victories 
are  thrown  away,  and  turned  into  disasters. 

Need  I  cite  instances  to  illustrate  this  truth  ?  From  ShiloJi  to  the 
unfortunate  disaster  at  Cedar  Creek,  the  whole  war  presents  the  pain- 
ful fa«t,  that  where  valor  has  achieved  the  greatest  successes ;  the  want 
of  discipline  and  drill  has  entailed  upon  us  many  serious  reverses. 

The  Father  of  His  Country,  when  President  of  the  United  States, 
had  learned,  from  his  experience  in  the  field,  the  importance  of  milita- 
ry instruction.  In  his  annual  message,  December  3d,  1793,  he  sug- 
gested the  enquiry,  whether  the  act  of  Congress  of  May  8th,  1793, 
"  More  effectually  to  provide  for  the  national  defence,"  &c,  accom- 
plished the  desired  objects;  and  whether  a  material  feature  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  scheme,  (l  ought  not  to  be,  to  afford  an  opportunity 
for  the  study  of  those  branches  of  the  art,  which  can  scarcely  ever  be 
attained  by  practice  alone"  And  in  his  message  of  December  7th, 
1796,  he  again  introduced  the  subject  of  military  instruction  in  the 
following  explicit  terms: 

"  The  institution  of  a  military  academy  is  also  recommended  by 
cogent  reasons.  *****  Whatever  argument  may  be  drawn 
from  particular  examples  superficially  viewed — a  thorough  examination 
of  the  subject  will  evince  that  the  art  of  war  is  both  comprehensive 
and  complicated — that  it  demands  much  previous  study ;  and  that  the 
possession  of  it  in  its  most  improved  and  perfect  state,  is  always  of 
great  moment  to  the  security  of  a  nation." 

These  views  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point,  a/id  the  practical  benefits  which  have  resulted  from  that 
important  arm  of  national  defence,  hav^becn  so  conspicuously  seen  by 
the  Federal  Government  since  this  war  commenced,  that  instead  of 
suspending  its  operations,  or  restricting  its  sphere  of  usefulness,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  number  of  trained  officers  whom  practice  in  the  field 
had  brought  out — increased  vigor  has  been  given  to  its  administration, 
and  it  is  reported  that  the  number  of  cadets  has  been  increased  to 
double  the  usual  complement. 

Nor  has  the  U.  S.  Army  failed  to  reap  the  advantages  anticipated  by 
the  Father  of  His  Country.  With  a  mercenary  body  of  men,  anima- 
ted by  no  such  principle  as  that  which  fires  the  breast  of  every  South- 
ern patriot — its  discipline  and  drill  have  preserved  it  from  disaster, 


•  LECTURE.  3 

when  defeated,  and  given  it  a  power  that  mere  force  of  numbers  could 
not  impart. 

Shall  we  turn  to  the  pages  in  the  history  of  the  French  Revolution 
of  1789,  for  additional  illustrations  confirmatory  of  the  view  I  am  now 
presenting?   Thiers  thus  writes: 

"  The  permanent  requisition  decreed  by  the  French  Assembly,  in 
August,  1793,  had  filled  the  army  with  soldiers — but  officers  were  want- 
ing. The  committee  acted  in  this  respect  with  its  accustomed  promp- 
titude." "  The  Revolution,"  said  Barrere,  "  must  accelerate  all  things 
for  the  supply  of  its  wants.  The  revolution  is  to  the  human  mind,  what 
the  sun  of  Africa  is  to  vegetation."  "  The  school  of  Mars  was  re-estab- 
lished. Young  men,  selected  from  all  the  provinces,  repaired  on  foot, 
and  in  military  order,  to  Paris.  Encamped  in  tents  on  the  plain  of 
Sablons,  they  repaired  thither  to  acquire  rapid  instruction  in  all  the 
departments  ©f  the  art  of  war,  and  then  to  be  distributed  among  the 
armies." 

So  that  instead  of  relaxing  military  instruction,  when  a  general  con- 
scription called  every  able  bodied  soldier  into  the  field,  to  resist  the 
armies  of  the  allies — such  necessities  made  more  urgent  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  a  school  which  had  been  closed  amid  the  disorders  incident 
to  the  opening  of  the  revolution.  And  France  reaped  the  benefits  of 
such  a  provision.  The  subaltern  officers  of  the  army — those  upon 
whom  must  depend  the  discipline  and  drill  of  the  companies,  that  regi- 
ments, brigades  and  divisions  may  be  moved  with  celerity,  order  and 
effect — were  supplied  from  these  military  schools,  and  the  successes  of 
1794,  and  the  following  years,  were  the  fruits  of  the  policy  so  happily 
enforced. 

To  these  illustrations,  drawn  from  history,  I  will  only  add  the  testi- 
mony of  the  great  and  invincible  commander  of  the  army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  The  re-opening  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  1st  Jan- 
uary, 1862,  after  its  temporary  suspension  in  the  summer  and  fall  of 
1861,  was  urged  in  emphatic  terms  by  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  as  one 
of  the  chief  instrumentalities  to  keep  up  the  supply  of  well  qualified 
officers;  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1864,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 

"  I  have  grieved  over  the  destruction  of  the  Military  Institute,  but  the 
good  it  has  done  to  the  country  cannot  be  destroyed,  nor  can  its  name 
or  fame  perish.  It  will  rise  stronger  than  before,  and  continue  to  dif- 
fuse its  benefits  to  a  grateful  people.     Under  your  wise  administration, 


0  LECTURE.  • 

there  will  be  no  suspension  of  its  usefulness.  The  diflieulties  by  which 
it  is  surrounded  will  call  forth  greater  energies  from  its  officers,  and 
increased  diligence  from  its  pupils.     Its  prosperity  I  consider  certain." 

We  are  thus  engaged  in  a  great  public  work,  which  looks  to  the  suc- 
cess of  our  arms,  in  this  life-struggle  for  our  independence,  when  we 
aim  not  only  to  maintain  life  in  this  military  school  of  Virginia,  but  to 
impart  to  it  all  the  vigor  and  efficiency  which  the  circumstances  of  the 
times  and  of  the  country  may  allow,  that  educated  officers  may  be  pro- 
vided for  our  armies.  AVe  know  no  more  effectual  way  of  repairing 
the  exhaustions  of  the  battle-field.  Already,  more  than  one  hundred 
of  the  most  gifted  alumni  of  this  school  have  fallen  in  battle,  and  some 
three  hundred  more  have  been  wounded  or  disabled,  making  about  one- 
half  of  those  who  had  been  in  commission.  Every  battle  swells  this 
number,  and  unless  the  views  I  have  been  presenting  are  delusions,  it 
will  be  impossible  to  maintain  and  preserve  that  discipline  and  drill 
which  I  have  insisted  upon  as  essential  to  our  success — without  the  an- 
nual additions  to  the  educated  military  talent  of  the  country,  which 
this  and  other  military  schools  of  the  South  supply.  Improper  or  ill- 
advised  legislation  may,  for  a  time,  keep  the  educated  cadet  out  of  the 
position  of  greatest  usefulness  to  the  country ;  but  all  here  trained,  if 
true  to  themselves  and  to  the  institution  which  nurtures  them,  will  ul- 
timately rise  to  the  positions  for  which  they  are  qualified. 

To  this  great  and  paramount  reason  for  continuing  the  operations  of 
this  Institution,  is  added  another — the  felt  necessity  for  some  adequate 
provision  for  the  general  education  of  the  youth  of  our  country. 

Schools  of  every  grade  have,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  been  suspen- 
ded by  the  necessities  of  the  military  service.  Young  men  above  the 
a<je  of  seventeen,  a^e  brought  into  the  army  by  the  force  of  the  con- 
scription ;  so  that  all  colleges  are,  for  the*  most  part,  suspended,  and 
can  find  employment  only  in  the  disabled  soldier,  or  the  grammar  school. 
But  this  institution,  by  virtue  of  its  peculiar  relations  to  the  State,  as  a 
part  of  its  military  organization ;  and  still  more,  in  consequence  of  the 
material  advantages  resulting  to  the  Confederate  Government,  by  the 
continued  operations  of  so  important  an  establishment,  has  hitherto 
been  enabled  to  protect  its  pupils  from  conscription  ;  and  it  is  believed, 
when  the  reasons  for  so  doing  are  fully  understood — and  results  com- 
mensurate with  public  expectation  are  fully  received — their  exemption 
will  still  continue  as  an  essential  element  in  the  public  defence.     This 


k  LEtTURE.  7 

circumstance,  then,  gives  ail  opportunity  for  a  vigorous  prosecution  of 
the  academic  studies  of  the  institution,  and  imposes  upon  the  govern- 
ing authorities  the  weighty  responsibility  of  giving  effect  to  the  urgent 
demands  of  a  high  public  duty. 

For  these  two  great  purposes  then  : — 

1.  To  educate  officers  for  service  in  our  armies.  2.  To  impart 
general  education  to  the  youth  of  our  country — we  are  assembled  under 
the  peculiar  circumstances  which  surround  us  to-day.  We  have  now 
our  work  distinctly  before  us.  It  is  a  serious  work.  There  is  no  child's 
play  in  it.  It  is  a  work  which  will  tax  every  energy  of  your  Professors 
and  Officers,  and  it  is  a  work  which  will  demand,  on  your  part,  every 
effort  that  assiduity,  self-denial  and  resolution  can  call  into  requisition. 
I  desire  every  cadet  in  this  institution  to  comprehend  and  appreciate 
fully  and  distinctly  the  objects  before  him — the  objects,  I  mean,  which 
the  letter  of  his  appointment,  and  the  order  calling  him  here  contem- 
plate. Some  may  have  private  objects  in  view.  Some  may  consider 
this  a  good  place  to  frolic,  or  to  spend  money,  or  to  have  fun.  Are 
there  any  so  craven  as  to  come  here  to  keep  out  of  the  army  ?  to  enter 
a  kind  of  peace  establishment  ?  The  memories  of  New  Market  and 
the  Williamsburg  road  forbid  this.  But,  whatever  be  the  private  mo- 
tive which  draws  any  cadet  to  this  military  school,  unless  these  are  sub- 
ordinated to  the  two  great  and  paramount  motives  which  I  have  speci- 
fied, he  has  no  business  here,  and  as  soon  as  this  fact  is  demonstrated, 
he  will  have  the  opportunity  to  withdraw.  That  cadet,  who,  having 
passed  the  age  of  seventeen,  spends  his  time  in  idleness,  or  folly,  or 
mischief — is,  as  was  well  remarked  by  one  of  my  associates  on  a  former 
occasion — a  skulker  from  military  service,  and  this  is  no  place  for  him. 

With  such  views  of  our  motives,  and  of  what  should  be  yours — you 
will  be  prepared  to  know  that  all  of  our  regulations  of  study  and  dis- 
cipline are  made  to  correspond  with  these  general  ideas.  We  cannot 
lose  Saturdays.  Time  is  now  too  precious  for  that.  One  day  saved 
to  study  in  each  week,  after  so  long  a  suspension,  will  gain  a  month  in 
a  session.  No  general  suspension  from  duties  or  absences  from  the  in- 
stitution can  be  allowed.  Reasons  which  respect  the  morals  of  the 
young,  might  be  given,  but  the  paramount  duty  of  being  at  all  times 
ready  and  at  our  posts,  for  any  call  of  the  country,  makes  it  necessary 
that  absences  should  be  restricted  to  a  daily  detail  of  a  limited  number. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  if  our  work  be  earnest — because  we  live  in 


8  LECTURE. 

a  time  of  anxiety  and  responsibility — how  important  is  it,  that  we  keep 
ourselves  always  ready;  not  merely  as  soldiers,  but  as  men,  as  rational 
and  immortal  men  ;  men  who  have  to  give  an  account  of  themselves  to 
God;  who  live,  not  for  time  only,  but  for  eternity.  Let  it  be  the  pur- 
pose and  effort)  of  every  one  connected  with  this  institution,  to  live  as 
soldiers  of  a  Divine  Leader,  that  we  may  be  the  better  qualified  for  the 
duties  which  claim  our  service  here,  and  prepared  for  the  inheritance 
reserved  for  those  who  love  God  and  keep  His  commandments-— 
for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man. 


